Georges Bizet
Known for one of the world's most popular operas, Carmen, Georges Bizet deserves attention as well for other works of remarkable melodic charm. Many of his works received cool receptions upon their premieres but are now considered central to the repertory of classical music.
Bizet was born in Paris on October 25, 1838 and grew up in a happy, musical family that encouraged his talents. He learned to read music at the same time he learned to read letters, both equally well. Entering the Paris Conservatory before he was ten, he earned first prize in solfège within six months, a first prize in piano in 1852, and eventually, the coveted Prix de Rome in 1857 for his cantata Clovis et Clotilde. His teachers had included Marmontel for piano and Halévy for composition, but his greatest influence was Charles Gounod, of whom Bizet later said, "You were the beginning of my life as an artist." Bizet himself hid away his Symphony in C, written when he was 17, feeling it was too much like its models, Gounod's symphonies. The two years spent in Rome after winning his prize would be the only extensive amount of time (and a greatly impressionable one) that Bizet would spend outside of Paris in his brief life. When he returned to Paris, he lost confidence in his natural talents and began to substitute dry Germanic or academic writing for his own developing idiom. He composed a one-act opera for production at the Opéra-Comique, but the theater's director engaged him to write a full-length opera instead, Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers). It was not a success at the time, but despite a few weaknesses, the work was revived in 1886, and its sheer beauty has earned it a respected position among the lesser-played operatic repertory. In 1863, Bizet's father bought land outside Paris where he built two bungalows, one of which Bizet frequently used as a compositional retreat. He began a friendship (apparently not a physical one) with a neighbor-woman named Céleste Mogador, a former actress, author, courtesan, circus rider, and dancehall girl. She is said to have been the model for his masterpiece's title role of Carmen. Bizet earned his living as an accompanist and publishing house arranger. Meanwhile, he poured his creative efforts into an immense five-act opera in the grand tradition, Ivan IV, but it was never performed. This proved to be a pattern for the rest of his career. Bizet would work hard to get an opera produced, but even so, it would usually receive only a handful of performances. Bizet's corpus of unfinished works is large, and testifies to his unsettled existence and his difficulty in finding a place in France's notoriously hierarchical and conservative musical world. In 1869, Bizet married Geneviève Halévy, the daughter of his teacher. The marriage did not turn out to be a happy one, primarily due to her family's history of mental illness. In 1872, Bizet's splendid incidental music for the play L'arlèsienne was poorly received, but when the composer assembled the music into an orchestral suite for a November performance, it found great acclaim. At last confident of his creative vision, Bizet was able to steer his final masterpiece through various obstacles, including the objections of singers and theater directors who were shocked by Carmen's subject matter. When the opera had its premiere on March 3, 1875, it was received barely well enough to hang on for future productions. Although it took audiences a few months to catch on, Bizet died convinced it was a failure.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
-
Naturally Classical Georges Bizet
Pop - Paru chez Only Between Us Records le 7 avr. 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classically Beautiful Georges Bizet
Pop - Paru chez Only Between Us Records le 24 mars 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Absolutely Magnificent Georges Bizet
Pop - Paru chez Only Between Us Records le 17 mars 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classically Beautiful Georges Bizet
Classique - Paru chez Only Between Us Records le 24 mars 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Instrumental Intentions: Georges Bizet
Pop - Paru chez Only Between Us Records le 17 févr. 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Favourites
Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana, Orchestra of the Budapest State Opera, Orchestra of the Württemberg State Opera
Opéra - Paru chez Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V. le 26 févr. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Apoteosis de la Opera - Bizet - Wagner
Classique - Paru chez JamadaDigital le 12 janv. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Apoteosis de la Opera - Bizet - Wagner
Opéra - Paru chez JamadaDigital le 12 janv. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen Vol I
Opéra - Paru chez Piros Comercial Digital le 20 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet Autumn Study Vibes
Classique - Paru chez UME - Global Clearing House le 24 oct. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet - Essentials
Classique - Paru chez UME - Global Clearing House le 17 avr. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen Jones Original Film Soundtrack
Georges Bizet, Oscar Hammerstein II
Bandes originales de films - Paru chez Firefly Entertainment le 1 janv. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classical Collection, Famous Overtures I
Pro Musica Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Hamburg Radio Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez JamadaClassics le 23 nov. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classical Collection - Bizet - Clásicos orquestrales
Classique - Paru chez ClassicalPirosDigital le 10 juin 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony in C, Carmen Suites Nos 1 & 2
The Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Maestro le 1 janv. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen - Oper als Hörspiel
Diction - Paru chez Amor Verlag GmbH le 20 janv. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Symphony In C Major, Schubert: Symphony No 5 In B Flat
The Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Stradivari Classics le 1 janv. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen' Act II, III, IV
Classique - Paru chez Pipeline Music le 6 juin 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Famous Operas - Carmen, Vol. 2
Compagnia Coro Teatro Lirico D'Europa
Opéra - Paru chez ISTJDigital le 31 oct. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Roma & L'Arlésienne suite No. 1 & No. 2
Classique - Paru chez Tuxedo Music le 22 mai 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Famous Operas - Carmen, Vol. 1
Compagnia Coro Teatro Lirico D'Europa
Opéra - Paru chez ISTJDigital le 31 oct. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo